Iris recognition helps to prevent ID fraud

Imagine a world where your eye is your passport, the key to your apartment and even confirmation of your gym membership.

For some Australians the task is simple, because this is their reality.

Identification fraud, the "boom crime" of the next decade, has forced authorities and organisations to rethink traditional forms of security. As a result, iris recognition technology is becoming increasingly popular.

While not perfect, it is the safest, cheapest, most user-friendly and accurate form of identification available in the world today, a Sydney conference on identity fraud was told.

In Australia, iris technology is already being used by Qantas Airlines, Sydney Airport, foreign embassies, some banks and TAFE colleges, the Australian Protective Services, the Defence Department and the Police Integrity Commission.
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"Already it's being used for everything from apartment blocks in Brisbane, where your eye is the key to your apartment ... to gymnasiums where it is used to identify its membership," Argus Solutions strategic development director John Grimes told the conference.

When forming in the womb, the iris tears open, creating a unique pattern that is consistent throughout a person's life from the age of one year.

"This is not a system that can identify you without your consent," Mr Grimes said.

The technology does not keep a photo of your eye, but instead uses a matching code allocated when a user knowingly registers with the system. A user must look into a camera while a snapshot is taken and matched to the corresponding code.

"In over two billion attempts around the world, iris has never let the wrong person through a secure door or into the wrong bank account," he said.

"It is precisely this reason that countries around the world are now developing iris as a crucial tool in border control."

Frauds committed using stolen personal details or a false identity are estimated to cost Australia $4 billion a year and account for more than a quarter of all white-collar crime.

Commander of the NSW Police Fraud Squad, Megan McGowan, said modern technology had made it easier to fake an ID and use it for fraudulent purposes.

"In dealing with identity fraud we need to look at the vulnerabilities in the systems which allow fraudsters to steal a person's identity," Detective Superintendent McGowan said.

Iris recognition would be one effective way of improving security.

"There are a number of people in Canberra at the moment who have legitimately lost every piece of personal identification but ... you generally don't lose your eyeballs," she said.

Mr Grimes predicted that Australia's financial institutions would begin adopting iris technology at automatic teller machines within five years.

Today's conference coincided with the release of a guide aimed at preventing identity fraud, compiled by the NSW Police Fraud Squad and Macquarie Bank.

"It's been reported that identity theft is the world's fastest-growing form of fraud, growing more than 50 per cent annually in Australia," the head of Macquarie Bank's banking and property group, Bill Moss, said in a statement.

"Experts say it will be the most serious white-collar crime in Australia this year."

"Modern technology has made it so much easier to fake a person's identity and use it for fraudulent purposes," said Detective Superintendent Megan McGowan, commander of the NSW Fraud Squad.

"Unless we put preventive measures in place to tackle identity fraud then we are going to continue to play catch-up with the criminals."

"It is predicted that within five years every ATM in Australia will have iris recognition technology," Mr Moss said.